CENTREVILLE, Maryland — Local historian Mary Margaret Revell Goodwin had no idea what she had stumbled upon when she made an inquiry about an old black and white photo resting in the historic Queen Anne’s County Court House.

After a little digging, however, Goodwin, the woman responsible for bringing the county to the forefront of Maryland’s War of 1812 bicentennial celebration, made a startling discovery.

Pictured in the photo was the county’s grand jury from the turn of the 20th century, which featured a tall, bearded man holding a hat. Goodwin strongly believes that man fought at the Aug. 13, 1813, Battle of Slippery Hill, a little-known skirmish during the War of 1812 in which a small unit of 20 Maryland militia repelled 300 British soldiers attempting to capture Queenstown.

“This photograph came off (Clerk of Circuit Court) Scott MacGlashan’s shelf,” said Goodwin, who noted that the same men were impaneled on the grand jury for a number of years. “You can imagine his surprise when I walked in … and said I know who the grand jury foreman is in your picture. His name is John Dodd, and he fought at Slippery Hill at the age of 16.”

Citing primary sources, including surviving local newspapers from that time period, Goodwin was able to pinpoint the foreman in the photograph and link him to the most illustrious battle in Queen Anne’s County history.

“John Dodd was the chief of the orphans’ court for a number of years (and) in the 1890s he was grand jury foreman,” Goodwin said. “John Dodd died in 1903 at the age of 107. He was 16 when he was at Slippery Hill and that man with the beard, with his hat in his hand in the front row standing there, is John Dodd who fought at Slippery Hill.

“There is no other (photograph) that we are aware of in the state of Maryland of some Maryland militia member. This is so rare.”

So rare, in fact, that Goodwin suggested it may even surpass her previous discovery of note — the story of local businessman Greenbury Griffin of Queenstown, whose schooner, The Thomas Jefferson, was hijacked by the British in April 1813, nearly a year and a half before the famous defense of Baltimore’s Fort McHenry.

Goodwin intends to add her discovery to the planned War of 1812 heritage trail that will span Queen Anne’s County in honor of the war’s bicentennial. In April, the unveiling of a commemorative sign in Queenstown observing the capture of The Thomas Jefferson kicked off the celebration.

To bolster the Battle of Slippery Hill memorial, Goodwin, the executive director for the Eastern Shore War of 1812 Consortium, plans to create short biographies of each of the 20 Maryland militia members who fought in the skirmish, beginning with Dodd.

“Everybody puts up a list: the 20 men who were our Slippery Hill heroes, but nobody ever said, ‘Who were these men?’ Nobody asked, ‘Who were they?'”

To accomplish the task, Goodwin appeared before the county commissioners this spring, asking for help from the public. She is looking for names of the men in the photograph and requests that anyone with information contact her at 410-758-2727.

Fundraising for the cross-county historic trail is still ongoing and donations are being accepted. When finished, the path will feature 15 signs, beginning at Broad Creek on Kent Island, where the British came ashore, and ending in Sudlersville.

A memorial park at the site of Slippery Hill will feature four signs, a double-sided kiosk and a monument. Bricks are currently being sold to be part of a patio in front of the Slippery Hill memorial. Each brick has three lines available for family names and each brick costs $125. All who purchase bricks will be invited to an upcoming private reception and bricklaying.